The right man for challenging times

July 1 2003

Professor Allan Fels has left an indelible mark
as the nation's top competition regulator.

Timing played an important part in the rise to prominence of the outgoing chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Professor Allan Fels. When Professor Fels became the nation's top competition regulator in 1991, the two- airline policy had just been abandoned, Telstra's monopoly was about to be broken, and many industries were undergoing substantial structural change: in the finance sector for example, foreign banks were establishing themselves, and non-bank home-loan providers were emerging. The internet was also ready to take off, feeding a massive sharemarket boom, with attendant takeover activity.

In those circumstances the shadow cast by the person in charge of the agency responsible for policing competition law was always destined to lengthen. But in Allan Fels, Australia found the right person at the right time. He was criticised over the years for his active use of the media, at times justifiably. But his determined promotion of the agency and the law it oversees underlined the fact that the Trade Practices Act imposes obligations and confers rights on all businesses. Professor Fels was a price regulator in the 1970s and '80s, an experience that informed his development of a stronger consumer protection focus for the ACCC in the '90s. That, in turn, positioned the commission to play a constructive role in policing prices after the introduction of the goods and services tax in July 2000.

It is a measure of Professor Fels's application of the competition principles enshrined in the Trade Practices Act that he fielded criticism from across the political spectrum. He campaigned successfully for tougher merger laws in 1993, when calls from big business for easier merger rules to allow the creation of "national champions" were increasing in number and volume. In fact, the case for easier merger laws has never been convincingly made, and big business's main lobby group, the Business Council of Australia, is no longer advancing it. The ACCC also intervened during the 1998 docks dispute to take legal action against the Maritime Union of Australia over the use of secondary boycotts, and pursued the case in the face of strong criticism from the union movement.

Professor Fels's 12-year tenure at the top was in itself important, because it gave the agency stability and consistent purpose. It is to be hoped that the person chosen to replace him, Graeme Samuel, can win cross-factional political support for a substantial term by the conclusion of his one-year provisional tenure, which begins today.